"It was my skirt and my husband and your glass floor."

April 16, 2011 7:30 PM

Last month, the BBC's Comic Relief Night (Red Nose Day, previously) featured the premiere of a two-part mini-sketch from "Doctor Who" penned by current showrunner Steven Moffat: Time and Space.

Previous minisodes, also for charity:
* Dimensions in Time: Parts 1 and 2 (1993)
* Doctor Who and the Curse of the Fatal Death: Parts 1 and 2 (1999)
* Born Again (2005)
and
* Time Crash (2007)

posted by zarq (23 comments total)

Previously - a good chunk of discussion of the specials about half way down.
posted by Artw at 7:37 PM on April 16, 2011

Basically Time and Space legitimized Amy/Amy slash fic.
posted by inturnaround at 7:58 PM on April 16, 2011 [19 favorites]

And, you know, I'm okay with that.
posted by lholladay at 8:03 PM on April 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

It might be the point, but the titles on these are switched. The episode titled 'Time' on youtube is actually 'Space, and vice versa.

Thanks for sharing. Excited for the Impossible Astronaut to return.
posted by ifthe21stcentury at 8:06 PM on April 16, 2011

Space and Time were amusing, but Curse of the Fatal Death is just astounding. Rowan Atkinson would make a brilliant "real" Doctor.
posted by Harpocrates at 8:08 PM on April 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

I thought I was the only one with a Wibley lever. Gdammit.
posted by Glinn at 8:11 PM on April 16, 2011

The Curse of the Fatal Death is head and shoulders above any of the modern specials, but I think you have to be aware of a lot of the tropes of the classic series to get a lot of the jokes. I don't know how well it would work for someone who's only seen New Who.
posted by immlass at 8:15 PM on April 16, 2011

ifthe21stcentury: "4It might be the point, but the titles on these are switched. The episode titled 'Time' on youtube is actually 'Space, and vice versa."

Shit. Sorry. :(
posted by zarq at 8:29 PM on April 16, 2011

Excited for the Impossible Astronaut to return.

I've seen it and Day of the Moon, and let me say, it's worth being excited about. I cannot wait for people to see it so I can start discussing it online.

(Then again, maybe I'm just easy. I started giggling like a school girl when Morgan Sheppard showed up 2 minutes into episode 1.)
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 8:33 PM on April 16, 2011

And I thank you, Mr. Fisher, for staying spoiler-free. Because I hear there are some to be had, and for the first time in my adult life I am actually trying to keep myself unspoiled.

I was in NYC this past weekend and quite literally stumbled over the camp-out lineup for the free showing of the premiere. At first I thought it odd that someone had chalked BAD WOLF up and down a block's worth of sidewalk, but it clicked in when I saw the giant "Hello Sweetie" written on the wall of NYU.

Unrelated: This is the part of the conversation where somebody points out that "Curse of the Fatal Death" was actually the first Doctor Who telefilm written by Steven Moffatt.
posted by bicyclefish at 8:40 PM on April 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Curse of the Fatal Death and Time Crash were also written by Moffat.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:40 PM on April 16, 2011

Just so bicyclefish could be right.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:41 PM on April 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

bicyclefish: the absence of current sci-fi tv in the US + Wide availability of Dr. Who episodes * Season 6 episodes SPOILERS = Dr Who takes over America! YEY!

SPOILERS
posted by leotrotsky at 8:56 PM on April 16, 2011

(hover over)
posted by leotrotsky at 8:57 PM on April 16, 2011

About two and a half weeks ago, I ecstatically realized that my previous purchase of Amazon Prime had entitled me to watch Doctor Who Seasons 1-4 using Amazon Instant Video ... having watched Season 5 as well now, I'm all caught up and really looking forward to S6's start, although it'll be torturous to have to watch it at a rate of one episode per week! ("Is this how time normally passes? Really slowly, in the right order?")
posted by WCityMike at 9:04 PM on April 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

ONE WEEK ONE WEEK ONE WEEK
posted by you're a kitty! at 9:51 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

So which should come first in viewing order, Time or Space?
posted by harriet vane at 9:53 PM on April 16, 2011

Time is inside Space. Or rather, Space is inside Time.
posted by dhartung at 10:07 PM on April 16, 2011

Doctor Who, Red Nose Day 2011

* Part 1
- Part 2
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:01 PM on April 16, 2011

So much fun. I think there should be more things that have cliffhanger endings where Amy Pond shows up and says "Okay kids, here's where it gets complicated." Because it makes so many things better.
posted by rmd1023 at 11:41 PM on April 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

So, okay, in a week we will have seen the first episode of season six AND also suffering the first cliffhanger of the season since Moffat has decided to start out with a two-parter.

CAN. NOT. WAIT!
posted by crossoverman at 2:16 AM on April 17, 2011

Dimensions in Time.... Big Ron was robbed!

(Viewers were asked to vote who would have a crucial part in the show 'Mandy' or 'Big Ron'... somehow Mandy won... but who remembers her now? No one! No one! Whilst Big Ron was and still is a legend!... I'm still bitter about this.)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:19 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

On the topic of cliffhangers, and this is, I think, FAR too vague to be a spoiler, but ymmv, but the ep 1 cliffhanger is solid enough, but it's the ep 2 cliffhanger that will REALLY get you asking questions, particularly as it seems the type they can very easily not bother to get back to for a long, long, time.

On another topic, one thing that was said in interviews is that they consider Season 32 to be a "love letter to America" which makes me wonder if more of the season will be set here than just what we already know about. Maybe they're coming back for 32b (are those already filmed?), maybe they already filmed things while here that will be dabbled throughout the eps, and maybe they just meant those two eps. Obviously half the fun to me is the very Britishness of the series, but certainly popping over here and having a little fun with us for a season is an enjoyable sidetrip.


(see also Torchwood for a case of, possibly, going to far with this... but until it airs I'll reserve judgment)
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 6:03 AM on April 17, 2011